XI FROM EL BO GO I TO LAKE RUDOLPH 247 



passable pair of teeth and one or two very small ones ; but 

 these were a poor reward for all our efforts. I may in passing — 

 apropos of the finding of tusks in the forest — take the oppor- 

 tunity of pointing out that the statements sometimes met with 

 in books, to the effect that there is some mystery about what 

 becomes of the remains of elephants that die in the forests, are 

 erroneous. I have often and often met with their skulls and 

 bones in the course of my hunting, and, if they are not more 

 commonly seen, it is because travellers do not generally spend 

 their time, as I did, in traversing these in all directions. That 

 the tusks are not so often found is obviously because they have 

 already, at some previous time, been appropriated by natives ; 

 but I have, in the course of my experience in Central Africa, 

 come across a good many, at one time and another. 



I now began to get very impatient for the return of my 

 caravan ; for I was eager to be off northward into new hunting- 

 grounds, where I hoped to find the odds not quite so long 

 against the hunter as they are in this impracticable dense scrub. 

 The elephants seemed to have left our neighbourhood, too, now, 

 and I did not care to make any more lengthy excursions, so I 

 occupied myself with adjusting loads and completing, as far as 

 possible, my preparations for continuing my journey. I had a 

 large pit dug, in a suitable spot among some trees hard by, 

 and buried all my ivory, taking care to injure the creeping 

 plants which covered the ground as little as possible, so that 

 after a shower or two of rain all traces of the ground having 

 been disturbed would soon be obliterated. I, however, showed 

 Lesiat and Baithai the spot, so that, on my return, should it 

 have been tampered with, they might not be able to disclaim 

 responsibility. 



They often visited me, and kept me well supplied with 

 honey. I sometimes gave Lesiat as many beans as his wife 

 could carry away ; but he did not now seem to care much 

 for any food I gave him except meat, which is always 

 welcome to an Ndorobo. The fact was, honey was very 



